


The Selkie and the Merman

by Anteros



Category: Hornblower (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-02-16
Updated: 2010-02-16
Packaged: 2017-10-25 14:40:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 931
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/271412
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Anteros/pseuds/Anteros
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Set around the time of <i>The Duel / The Even Chance</i>.</p>
    </blockquote>





	The Selkie and the Merman

**Author's Note:**

> Set around the time of _The Duel / The Even Chance_.

_**The Selkie and the Merman**_  
 **Title:** The Selkie and the Merman  
 **Author:** Anteros  
 **Characters:** Hornblower, Kennedy  
 **Rating:** G  
 **Notes:** Hey look I managed to find time to nail a plot bunny! I know it's cheating but this is in response to the [](http://following-sea.livejournal.com/profile)[**following_sea**](http://following-sea.livejournal.com/) crack meme. I did try to post it anonymously over there but it's too long to go in the comments and I only have this account. So anyway here's my response to "Creature fic, AU or bookverse: Archie as a merman". Enjoy, you strange people!

* * *

  
 **I**

Scuttlebut ensured that within hours of their return to the _Indefatigable_ the story of Hornblower's exploits on the _Marie Galante_ had spread throughout the frigate. And as the story progressed from stem to stern the tale grew taller with each telling. By the end of the day, and much to his great amusement, Archie had heard several more or less embroidered versions of events.

He had heard how Mr Hornblower had calmly dropped the compass over the side of the ship's boat and told the french Captain to "fish for it". He had heard how the French sailors had only overpowered the _Indy_ 's men after a desperate struggle in the tiny boat, during which Mr Hornblower had laid the French captain out cold with a single blow. (Archie didn't believe a single word of that particular telling of the tale, but he didn't let on.)

The wildest stories all revolved around Hornblower diving into the sea to locate where the _Marie Galante_ had been hulled and to place and secure the fothered sail. Few of the seamen could swim and indeed many believed it unlucky to learn, tantamount to tempting fate. In light of this fact the young officer's willingess to go over the side was deemed extraordinary. In one version of the story he had been lowered over the side of the brig tied to a bowline. In another he dived off the gunwale like a dolphin. He was variously wearing his full dress uniform, stoically refusing to remove even his jacket; or he stripped to his breeches; or he dived into the sea naked as the day he was born. (Archie wasn't sure which version of events he believed but he knew which one he preferred.)

* * *

  
 **II**

The bell had just tolled to mark the second dog watch. Along with those midshipmen not on watch, Hornblower and Kennedy were below in the gunroom. Archie was sitting in his usual corner observing Horatio who was kneeling at feet rummaging in his sea chest.

"Have you got a pair of sealskin breeches in there Horatio?" Archie asked with a broad smile.

"I _beg_ your pardon?" Horatio looked up in surprise.

"Sealskin breeches Horatio. From the stories I've heard today I am beginning to wonder if you are in fact a selkie."

"A what?"

"A selkie, an enchanted shapeshifter. Haven't you heard of the seal people Horatio?"

Horatio was sitting back on his heels now, looking up at Archie. "What on earth are you talking about?" He was growing used to his shipmate's flights of fancy and was happy to indulge him under the pretense of skepticism.

"Ah well, the selkies, you see, are half-man half-seal. It's said that they can shed their skin and take human form to come ashore to meet their lovers. But the selkie must conceal their sealskin beause without it they are doomed to remain on land and can never return to the deep." Archie concluded with a grave nod.

"Fiction Archie! Children's tales." Horatio attempted to look disinterested but was making a poor show of it.

"Perhaps, Horatio, perhaps." Archie lowered his voice. "It's also said that selkie men are darker and more handsome than any mortal men who walk the earth and that they come ashore to seek and to satisfy those that have been betrayed in love."

Horatio could feel his cheeks beginning to colour under his friend's intense blue gaze. "Archie I have never heard such nonsense."

Archie sniffed and lifted his chin in a semblance of affront. "No word of a lie Horatio. When I was a boy my nanny told me all about the selkies. She even taught me how to call them."

"And how would you go about summoning such a fantastical beast?"

Archie looked cautiously over his shoulder as though he was about to impart the whereabouts of the French fleet "Well. You must go down to the shore at high tide and shed seven tears into the sea."

That was too much for Horatio. "Really Archie you have an over-fertile imagination. Next you'll be telling me that you're a porpoise or some such nonsense."

"Don't be ridiculous." Archie snorted, before adding with considerable gravity "I, of course, am a merman."

Horatio eyed his friend for a split second before dissolving into helpless gales of laughter. "A fishy tale indeed Mr Kennedy" he spluttered.

Archie was laughing now too. He was actually starting to suspect that Horatio Hornblower might be hiding a fine sense of humour under that grave facade.

"Of course if you really _are_ a selkie Horatio, all I have to do is steal your sealskin breeches, hide them away, and then you'll be mine forever." Archie's eyes were gleaming as he gazed down at Horatio.

Horatio shut the lid of his chest with a loud snap. "Well Mr Kennedy I had better make sure you never manage to relieve me of my breeches then!"

Getting to his feet to stow his sea chest away Horatio Hornblower smiled to himself. There were worse fates he could imagine.


End file.
